1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing press comprising a printing plate guiding device for guiding a new printing plate supplied to a plate cylinder or a discharged printing plate discharged from the plate cylinder.
2. Prior art
A conventional printing press comprising a printing plate guiding device for guiding a new printing plate supplied to a plate cylinder or a discharged printing plate discharged from the plate cylinder has previously been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3032484.
In the device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3032484, a holding member for guiding a discharged printing plate or a new printing plate is pivotally provided at a location near a plate cylinder. The holding member can be shifted between a discharged printing plate guiding position and a new printing plate guiding position by an operation unit.
In a printing press disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3032484, a holding member is provided at a location near a plate cylinder. Thereby, an operation space for checking the plate cylinder, etc. is restricted and operation efficiency is decreased.
To resolve the above drawback, for example, a printing press disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 6-31901, a thin plate is swingably supported at a cover member upwardly movable. By pivotally moving the thin plate, a holding member can be shifted between a guiding position for guiding a discharged printing plate or a new printing plate and a shelter position and the maintenance of the plate cylinder and so on can be easily operated by upwardly moving the thin plate by increasing the cover member.
However, in the printing press disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 6-31901, a sufficient space should be provided above a printing unit, since the operation space near the plate cylinder is formed by increasing the thin plate together with the cover member.
To address the above drawbacks, a purpose of the present invention is to provide a printing press which can form an operation space at a location near a plate cylinder even if a sufficient space can not be provided above a printing unit.